


Business as Usual

by lucathia



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Confessions, I just love their bickering, M/M, Valentines, but neither really mention it, lots of bickering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22608640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucathia/pseuds/lucathia
Summary: In which Heinwald and Curran bicker a lot, and Heinwald gets lured by a mystery, only to be distracted by a different one.
Relationships: Curran/Heinwald (Dragalia Lost)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Business as Usual

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PluralForce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PluralForce/gifts).



"Heinwald, there you are!" Curran shouted, as if it wasn't obvious that Heinwald would be here in the Library Obscura where there were still countless books waiting to be deciphered.

"Do lower your voice, Curran. You'll damage the books with all that inane shouting," Heinwald commented without looking up. He turned to the next page in the book he was currently perusing. 

In the next moment, the book was snatched from his hands, forcing Heinwald to look up at his partner's face, which wasn't unpleasant to look at, as faces went, but he would much rather be studying the book instead.

Heinwald pursed his lips. "You do understand that these books are ancient and delicate, yes?"

"And you should understand that the prince's party is already well underway, yeah? You know, the one that everyone has been planning for weeks?" Curran turned Heinwald's own words on him.

“Everyone? I do not recall participating in any planning whatsoever,” Heinwald stated.

Curran looked at him incredulously. “Everyone _except_ you, of course!”

“Well, you should have said so in the first place. Besides, planning certainly did not take weeks. Decorations around the Halidom have only gone up two days prior, with invitations sent out a day before that. It cannot be longer than a week since the preparations began. A hasty celebration, truly."

Perhaps this would have made a great mystery, figuring out the reason behind the sudden party, but Heinwald was not the least bit intrigued by it, as impromptu parties were quite common among the inhabitants of the Halidom, especially when they gained new allies.

“If you noticed all that, you should have come out and helped. You could at least show your mug now that we’ve already done all the hard work for you while you slacked off over here.”

Heinwald lifted an eyebrow. "Now why would I wish to do that?"

Not only were the books much more interesting than a party, the prince throwing a party wasn’t anything new. He threw parties all the time. Besides, Heinwald had been using his time to read precious books. He had _not_ been slacking off, thank you very much!

Curran gave a bark of laughter and finally placed the book down. Heinwald was pleased to see that he did so fairly gently. The book was now within reach on the table. He extended his hand out, only for Curran to slap a letter into it.

Heinwald slowly raised his head and gave Curran a look.

Curran explained and gestured at the letter, "Figured you’d rather be antisocial than mingle, but you’re really missing out. We've got a case! Some guy at the party was looking for us.”

Heinwald, never one to resist a mystery, began unfolding the letter even as he muttered, "If you wish for my undivided attention, next time, lead with the mystery."

Curran rolled his eyes, but by then, Heinwald was already too focused on the letter to notice.

* * *

A dash of snow landed on Heinwald's shoulder. He brushed it off and pulled his coat tighter around himself. Snow was markedly worse than rain. "I do believe it behooves me to return inside. I shall leave the rest to you, partner."

"Nonsense! You haven't even done anything yet," Curran protested. "It's too early to change your mind."

Heinwald shook his head. "Your definition of 'anything' is defective. Have I not taken a step outside? Observe, the evidence is before your eyes. My footprint is clearly visible in the snow."

"Oh come on, stop grumbling. The castle is right there. Look, I have dozens more footprints than you in the snow already. One meager print isn't anything to boast of. Hurry it up."

Heinwald shook his head again. "Only a fool would persist in traversing the lands when the weather is so harsh."

A particular chilly bout of wind perfectly punctuated the point Heinwald was trying to make. He shivered.

A heavy coat suddenly appeared around Heinwald's shoulders. Startled, Heinwald glanced up to see Curran without the coat he was carrying. Heinwald brushed his hand against the coat and pulled it around himself. 

"You looked like you could use it. I wasn't wearing it anyway," Curran clarified.

"How magnanimous of you," Heinwald said and watched Curran nod, seemingly pleased with himself, until Heinwald finished with, "but your generosity has yet to convince me of the necessity of this venture."

Curran threw his hands up. "You've got it coming!"

Before Heinwald could question what Curran meant, the snowy ground suddenly grew much farther away, and the world flipped upside down. 

Curran had thrown him over his shoulder.

"Curran!" Heinwald protested, his ponytail tickling his face. The coat around his shoulders began to slip. He quickly grabbed it to prevent the coat from falling off. It was only afterwards that he pushed himself higher and swept his hair out of his face.

"What'd you say? Can't hear ya from here." Curran snickered and sauntered toward the castle, caring not a whit about all those who stopped to stare at them along the way.

"Do you think me to be a sack of apples that those Sylvans have a great fondness for? I am assuredly not,” Heinwald grumbled. Sure, he didn't have to exert any energy to walk among the snow now, but... "Isn't there a better way to carry me than this?"

"What other way would allow me to have one hand free?" Curran asked.

"And whyever do you even need a free hand to tread through the snow?” Heinwald shot back.

“To hold my coat, of course," Curran answered immediately.

“Excuse me. Am I not the one currently ‘holding’ your coat—“ Heinwald stopped abruptly as a sudden realization came to him. “You’re not treating me like a sack of apples. You’re treating like a coat you can fling over your shoulder. Curran! I am not a coat!”

“You sure? You can argue over that point and complain about the snow all you want, but I don’t feel cold at all. You’re better than any coat!”

That was how they arrived at the castle, with Heinwald thrown over Curran's shoulder, and the two of them arguing the entire way. Heinwald would much rather prefer being carried in Curran's arms than over his shoulder. Not only would he be better protected from the wind and snow, he would be able to see Curran's face, which was really a much more pleasant sight than the dreary ground and the drifting snow.

The regular inhabitants at the Halidom looked over at them for a moment but soon returned to the festivities at hand, not at all surprised by their antics. Some new faces could not help but stare at them in alarm.

Finally, Curran put Heinwald down, who grumbled that Curran really should have held him in his arms instead, to allow him to see the face of the perpetrator who had treated him like an inanimate object, a coat of all things. 

Heinwald smoothed his, well, not his, but Curran's coat out, as he had kept it and wasn’t about to return it when it had become central to their argument.

After getting treated like a random coat, Heinwald wasn’t exactly in the best of moods, but he was pleased to note that at least his footwear was dry. 

Curran just rolled his eyes.

* * *

“That’s the guy,” Curran said and jerked his head toward a stranger at the end of the great hall, which had been lavishly decorated in pink, red, and white, with vases of roses of similar colors on the tables. "He's the one who claimed to need aid to solve this mystery. The prince directed him our way."

"He's just the messenger, no doubt," Heinwald said. "However, he is not an uninvolved party."

"You think so, too?" Curran asked. 

Heinwald nodded and pushed up his glasses. He took the letter out and unfolded it. "While it is entirely possible that he is the one seeking our expertise, this letter clearly originates from the hands of a woman, and a noble one at that."

"How do you figure that?"

"The quality of the paper is nothing to scoff at, while the content of the letter is written in a way to hoodwink us into thinking the man is the one behind it. No doubt our fellow here willingly went along with this arrangement to protect her identity. With how invested he is in this dilemma, I surmise they must be close, perhaps lovers." 

Heinwald paused before he rambled more. "Intriguing. How very intriguing. This is not the first time I have come across a noblewoman wishing to take a common man as her lover. Do you recall the time when Prince Euden was mistaken for the paramour of a nobleman's daughter because of a ring he picked up?"

When Heinwald looked over, he found Curran gazing at him with a look that Heinwald couldn't quite decipher, though it was a look he had often seen on Curran's face lately, especially whenever Heinwald was lost to the excitement of an intriguing case. He would look up and see Curran looking at him like _that._ It was a greater mystery than the one detailed in the letter, and Heinwald itched to figure it out.

Curran laughed and said, "How could I forget? The look on Elisanne and Cleo's faces is something I'll always remember."

While the look on Curran's face was something Heinwald would always remember.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Heinwald asked bluntly, unable to leave the mystery alone.

"Like what?" Curran asked.

"If I could describe the odd way you have been gazing at me lately, I would not be asking!" Heinwald retorted.

Curran averted his eyes and scratched his cheek. "Ah darn, so you've noticed. You could have said something."

"Aren't I asking now? So?" Heinwald crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

Curran answered by gesturing at Heinwald. "You... you're always so fascinated by a good mystery."

"Indeed, I am. So?" Heinwald questioned further, still not comprehending.

" _I'm_ always fascinated when you get lost in your ramblings. I suppose I'm quite... fond of seeing you so completely enraptured by your findings. It's a good look on you. And that coat of mine you're wearing also makes quite the picture."

At the mention of the coat, Heinwald pulled it around him some more, but he hadn't yet formulated his thoughts on what he had just learned. Most considered him to be eccentric while some were grateful for the way he ruled as a lord, but to hear that someone was fond of his oddness was something new altogether.

"Do you recall the time when I challenged you to solve the mystery that is love?" Curran asked, once again borrowing Heinwald's own words from earlier. "Well, how about—"

Heinwald lifted his hand to halt Curran before he could finish that sentence. His mind worked furiously through all the evidence he had unconsciously taken note of. Those odd gazes always happened when Heinwald was excited by a mystery. Was that fondness like what Curran claimed? Whenever Curran came across a good mystery, he always sought him out even when Curran could have solved the case on his own, just like the one detailed in the letter. Was that Curran wishing to spend more time with him? And now with this new evidence of Curran liking to see Heinwald wear his coat, did that mean he was also fond of Heinwald's appearance? 

There was only one conclusion Heinwald could make.

"Heinwald, how about—" Curran tried to continue.

"Curran, do you—" Heinwald began.

They both stopped and snorted. Curran even grinned and gestured at both of them, which Heinwald took to mean they should just say it both at the same time. He delighted in the times when they were so in sync like this. They were often able to tell exactly what the other person was thinking.

With a nod at each other, Curran and Heinwald both opened their mouths at the same time to say:

"Heinwald, how about salivating the mystery that is love with me?"

"Curran, do you wish to marry me?"

Both of them froze. 

"Really, Curran, of all times to stumble over your words!" However, Heinwald knew that Curran really only stumbled over his words when he wanted to look cool, which meant Curran was currently trying to look cool. Just that thought warmed Heinwald up. He brushed his hand against the coat around his shoulders again.

"Really, Heinwald, how did you jump all the way to marriage right away again?! What happened to all the other steps before that? There aren't any shortcuts in love, you know!" Curran complained, but Heinwald figured that Curran liked his idiosyncrasies just fine.

"Ah, but Curran," Heinwald said, "I could entirely see myself marrying you."

Curran rolled his eyes. 

This time, Heinwald saw it quite clearly, and understood it to be fondness.

"Oh you, come here!" Curran grumbled and finally pulled Heinwald into his arms. Heinwald looked up to see Curran flushing red quite beautifully. Getting to see Curran's face was indeed much more preferable than the alternative.

As Curran's arms came around him and pulled him snug against Curran's chest, Heinwald was pleased to learn that this too proved to be to his liking, much better than being flung over Curran's shoulders like a sack of apples.


End file.
